India's Reliance eases off record highs as Q1 profit disappoints
SHARES of Reliance Industries, India’s largest company by market capitalisation, fell nearly 3 per cent on Monday (Jul 24), the most in nearly two weeks, after the conglomerate posted a bigger-than-expected drop in profit late.
The stock also slid 3.1 per cent on Friday, ahead of the results, but that came after a rally of a little over 13 per cent this month ahead of the demerger of Jio Financial Services last Thursday when the stock hit a record high.
However, the focus on Monday was on the fading fortunes of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led company’s flagship oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business after record-high refining margins last year, following the post-pandemic jump in demand for fuels.
The business’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) fell 6 per cent in the latest quarter, weighing on overall profit since despite expanding into retail, green energy and telecommunication. The O2C business remains Reliance’s largest at over 63 per cent of operational revenue.
Analysts at Jefferies expect that the unit’s profitability in the current quarter will remain under pressure from a limited impact of the European Union ban on imports of Russian refined products, weak economic activity in China and the narrowing discount on Russian crude.
Even Reliance’s telecoms and retail unit did not fare as well as expected.
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In fact, Reliance Jio, the telecoms unit, posted its slowest profit growth in six quarters on higher expenses and a slowdown in tariff hikes.
Meanwhile, analysts at Antique Stock Broking said the retail division’s revenue did not rise as much as it had anticipated, given the store additions and acquisition of brands and businesses, including German retailer Metro’s Indian unit.
Still, the average rating of the 32 analysts covering Reliance’s stock remains a “buy”, while the median price target is 2,840.50 rupees, Refinitiv data showed.
That implies a roughly 13 per cent jump from the current price of 2,504.95 rupees, and is 8 per cent higher than the stock’s record high of 2,630.95. REUTERS
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